Game On
by Mattycollns13
Summary: Cisco liked to play online games to wind down after a hard day at the lab. He didn't know that it would one day change his life by meeting the nicest person to ever shoot you in the head.


"Oh come on!" Cisco stood up from the couch in anger as his character was shot through the head again. He'd been at this for a while now and he considered himself a decent gamer, especially when it came to something like Call of Duty. Apparently, there was someone better because the same player who was sniping somewhere else on the map had just shot him in the head three times in a row. "I don't know where you are, you bastard, but I'm going to get my revenge."

The match finished, leaving him infuriated, but as the next game loaded up he was happy to see that the same gamer tag was in this one as well, and Cisco was even more thrilled when they were placed on the opposing team. "Time for some revenge."

Revenge didn't seem to want to agree with Cisco today because not even two minutes passed before his character fell down dead again from a headshot. He cursed and moved to the start screen so he could select a different class than he had been using. He grinned as he selected the sniper class. "Two can play at this game."

He sprinted through the course, picking off other players, but never seeming to find the one he was after. He ducked into a building and climbed the stairs. He went to a nearby crumbling wall and set up shop there. He surveyed the entire field and then started looking for his nemesis among the trees of the opposite hill. That'd give them the best vantage point.

He frowned and continued to look through the tall grass and trees, but had no luck. A message indicator that popped up distracted him on the lower part of his screen, most likely Barry, asking him to join a game with him after his current one. He sighed and moved his character away from the window and into the corner before going to open it. He frowned when he saw that it wasn't Barry. He opened it a second before he recognized the gamer tag. The other sniper! He read the message: "Behind you," and his heart filled with dread. He tried to scramble back to the game screen and turn around, but before he could fully do that they knifed him in the back for a melee kill.

Of course that's where they were! He should have known after not finding them on the opposite hill. He'd chosen this place cause it afforded the best view of the battlefield and that's apparently why they'd chosen it as well. It wasn't too much longer before the game ended and his side was the loser. He groaned and threw his headset down in frustration. He didn't know how people played games to relax; they certainly didn't help his blood pressure any.

Another light flickering caught his attention and he saw he had a friend request from someone new and groaned when he saw the gamer tag. "You again?" He clicked accept and saw there was a message attached to it.

"Hey, sorry about that knife, but I was sitting there for a while and couldn't resist. Any way that I can make it up to you?"

He huffed out an annoyed laugh before typing back. "Yeah, well, it was a nice kill. It's embarrassing, but at least no one will believe you when you tell the story."

He didn't have to wait long for a response. "Yeah, about that. I was kind of on Twitch when it happened. Your name shall live in infamy, I'm afraid."

Cisco groaned and fell back, already typing out his response. "Well, there goes all my gamer cred."

"Aw, sorry. I almost feel kind of bad now."

Cisco perked up. "Well, how about you and me do a one on one game, no sniping, and see if it's a little more even? Maybe I'll redeem myself."

"Deal. Don't get your hopes up though."

Laurel was very good at Call of Duty. He had spent most of his night playing against her one on one, finally finding their groove and becoming a lot more evenly matched, though she still outclassed him at sniping no matter what he tried. They had eventually linked up through the headset and that's how he found out she was a… well, a girl. He was surprised, but it was more of a pleasant surprise. She'd seemed kind of nervous about the reveal, but he had brushed it aside with a simple, "I'm all for kick ass ladies. Actually makes me feel better, knowing that you had the unfair advantage of superior intelligence for our sniping matches." She'd laughed and instantly warmed up to him.

Now it had been a couple weeks, and they were still playing every night, both getting better off of the other's skills, but it hadn't stopped at Call of Duty. She'd had Cisco list off a bunch of other games he owned, and he found out she had almost as extensive a library as he did, and they'd branched out to Mortal Kombat, Injustice 2, and even Guitar Hero. She was really good at Injustice 2, saying that Black Canary just felt like an extension of herself sometimes. Cisco liked playing as The Flash, but it didn't feel like an extra part of him, so he just accepted that she'd always have a better knack for it than he would. He destroyed her at Guitar Hero though, like, it wasn't even funny. He actually asked her if she had all of her fingers and he'd gotten a picture message of a hand with one middle finger up with the tag line, "I have the most important finger for you."

Oh, and of course that picture message was on his phone because they traded numbers. That was something that online friends did sometimes, right? That wasn't weird? Barry had said he thought it was a little weird after Cisco had told him. Barry had kinda demanded to know what was going on with Cisco when he wouldn't look up from texting on his phone all the time, and smiling dopily. Cisco had argued the dopily point, but it had been in vain and he had to admit to Barry that he'd been texting Laurel, who was this amazing gamer that he met and she was amazing and smart and funny and really nerdy sometimes, but she was the best.

And if it sounds like Cisco was a little bit in love, then that's because he was. Just a little, not enough that it would be weird. Okay, maybe a tiny bit weird, for having never seen a person's face and only heard their voice. But, it was just a crush, it only had to do with her gaming skills, and maybe a little bit on the fact that she sent him funny pictures she thought he'd like, or the way she was complain about her lawyer job to him, before apologizing for being boring, when that was the farthest word from his mind when he thought of her. Plus, the best and worst thing about his crush is that he could never have a chance to mess up the friendship because she lived in Star City while he was in Central City, and while if they were together romantically, not that she probably even like him like that, by some miracle, he'd be more than willing to deal with the distance, it left enough there for him to not do anything stupid like buy her a diamond Xbox controller and ask her to marry him, which he almost did only once when she'd gotten a perfect victory on him during an Injustice match and gloated in his face.

Which is why his current situation is such a problem, because it threatens to ruin all of that nice distance and give him a grand, horribly opportune way to mess this wonderful thing in his life up. "The Central City Gaming Con? You want me to go with you?"

He hears that breathy laugh on the other side of the headset that makes him go just the slightest bit dizzy, before she speaks. "Well, it'd be more like you're meeting me there, but that's the gist of it."

That can't happen. He'll melt to a puddle in front of her and ask her to marry him. What a way to wreck a friendship, Cisco. "Well, how will we find each other?"

"Well, I'll tell you where in the convention center I'm entering and then I'll just look for you. You have your picture on your profile; at least, I assume that's you. It's gonna be a major let down if you turn out to be some creepy fifty year old."

He couldn't help but smile. "Wow, setting the bar really low, I appreciate that."

Another breathy laugh, "I aim to please… so, will you come with me?"

Cisco's mind raced to find any reason that he couldn't, since he'd already planned to go. He couldn't think of one yet, but to stall for time he tried to distract her. "Is this your convoluted way of asking me out?"

He expected a laugh and denial, vehement denial and a hang up, or nervous laughter and rambling words of nothing. What he didn't expect was a faint chuckle and a, "Yeah, kind of."

He felt his heart stop and all the blood roared in his ears. "You're joking. You've seen my profile pic…"

"Like I said, Cisco, it'd be a real let down if you were some creepy fifty year old."

"So, you're saying I'm cute." He could almost hear her roll her eyes and see her exasperated smile.

"Oh my god, are you going to come with me or not?"

And in his, let's call it, Laurel induced haze, he couldn't stop himself from blurting out, "It's a date."

Cisco had decided to forego dressing up for this Con, as he didn't want to make it any tougher on Laurel to find him than he already imagined it would be. Laurel had told him that she would be dressing up, but when he asked who she was going as, she simply said it was a secret, and not to worry about it as she was going to find him in the first place.

He looked at his cell phone and saw that the time was quickly approaching and he again cursed himself for getting too excited and arriving almost a half hour early. This was the spot Laurel said she would find and meet him at, but he didn't know which of his fellow nerds was his crush. So he elected to just stand there, grabbing his phone and reading up on all the panels and demos that were available so that he could best plan out this date, if it really was one, and have the most fun with Laurel.

"Hello, Cisco."

He recognized the voice immediately and gulped, turning around. What he was met with was almost laughably, the single best Black Canary cosplay he'd ever seen. The only difference between the two was that she didn't have the bright blonde hair, but he couldn't help but think that he preferred the Canary with Laurel's hair color. Not like he was biased or anything. And it was hard not to be biased, because he wasn't, due to the fact that Laurel was on a whole other earthly, maybe even terrestrial, level of gorgeous than he'd been expecting or even secretly hoping for. Her face, though hidden behind the mask of the Canary, was flawless, her smile bright and amused, her hair tussled yet somehow still perfect, her body looking completely sinful in the leather jacket and black pants.

He turned around, checking to see if she could possibly be talking to someone behind him, but when he saw no one and turned back, she was closer, looking down on him slightly, damn his short family genes. "Nope, talking to you."

"You're Laurel."

"So they tell me."

"The Laurel from the online games."

"Yes sir."

"…The same Laurel I've been talking to?"

"You process this however you feel you need to."

"My Laurel?"

She threw back her head and laughed, "That's a little presumptuous, isn't it?"

He flushed, his whole face burning. "I didn't mean it like that. It's just, holy shit, you're gorgeous."

It was her turn to flush slightly, and it hit him then that her stance was defensive and she was almost vibrating with nervousness too. It helped him get his mind back on track and he cleared his throat. "The best Black Canary I've ever seen."

She smiled shyly and thanked him, now seeming to fall into her own nervous thoughts as they continued to just stare at each other. He clapped his hands together and smiled. "Well, I believe we're supposed to be on a date and I have many demos and panels set up to take you to, though don't leave without me at least getting a picture with THE Black Canary." He offered his arm to her and she brightened up, standing up straight again, her confidence back, especially now that he was out of the crippling hypnosis she'd had him under and was acting like an actual person.

"Well, this already beats all those dates we had online."

"Those were dates?"

She scoffed, patting his arm before slipping her own through it. "Of course they were. Do you think I'd agree to a real life date with anyone before I've had the chance to kill them in virtual reality? And here I thought you knew me."

Cisco stared up at her in awe. "Is there any less creepy way to say 'marry me' on the first date?"

She laughed, big and bright before pulling him over to a demo station nearby, grabbing two controllers and offering one to him with a smirk. "How about, game on?"

He returned her cocky smirk, grabbing the player two controller. "Oh, game on."


End file.
